1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a garment rod and, more particularly, to an adjustable garment rod with a conveniently adjustable angle of suspension.
2. Description of Related Art
With reference to FIG. 7, a conventional adjustable garment rod (6) in accordance with prior art comprises a mounting bracket (60), a pivot seat (74), a suspension arm (70) and multiple restitution springs (75). The mounting bracket (60) attaches the garment rod (6) to a post (69). The pivot seat (74) is mounted pivotally in the mounting bracket (60). The suspension arm (70) is attached to and is held by the pivot seat (74) so that the angular position of the suspension arm (70) can be adjusted.
The mounting bracket (60) comprises a bracket body (61) and a mounting ring (62). The bracket body (61) has transverse slot (610), two upper lips (611) and two lower lips (612) where only one upper lip (611) and one lower lip (612) are shown in the FIG. 7. The transverse slot (610) is defined between the upper and the lower lips (611, 612). The upper lips (611) are formed alongside the transverse slot (610), and each of the upper lips (611) has a curved edge (614) and multiple seat detents (615). The seat detents (615) are defined in the curved edge (614). Likewise, the lower lips (612) are formed alongside the transverse slot (610), and each of them has a curved edge (616) and multiple arm detents (617). The curved edges (616) of the lower lips (612) are opposite to the curved edges (614) of the upper lips (611). The arm detents (617) are defined in the curved edges (616). The mounting ring (62) connects to the bracket body (61) and is attached to the post (69).
The pivot seat (74) is mounted pivotally in the transverse slot (610) by a pivot fastener (63) and has an engaging ball (76) and an arm passage (741). The engaging ball (76) selectively corresponds to the seat detents (615) and is held in one of the seat detents (615) to hold the pivot seat (74) in position. The arm passage (741) holds the suspension arm (70).
The suspension arm (70) has an insert (72), a top edge (701), at least one hanging recess (71) and two positioning studs (73). The insert (72) is inserted into and held in the arm passage (741) and has an elongated hole (721) and an inside end (722). The elongated hole (721) holds slidably the pivot fastener (63). The at least one hanging recess (71) is defined along the top edge (701). The positioning studs (73) protrude alongside the insert (72) and extend, respectively, toward the lower lips (612) of the bracket body (61). The positioning studs (73) correspond, respectively, to the lower lips (612), engage selectively the arm detents (617) in the corresponding lower lip (612) to position the suspension arm (70).
The restitution springs (75) are mounted in the arm passage (741) and provide a restitution force on the inside end (722) of the insert (72) so the positioning studs (73) can be firmly held in the corresponding arm detents (617). Therefore, the suspension arm (70) can be maintained at a given angular position when the positioning studs (73) engage and are held in the arm detents (617).
The suspension arm (70) is adjusted by pushing the suspension arm (70) into the arm passage (741) until the positioning studs (73) disengage from the arm detents (617). The suspension arm (70) can be pivoted about the pivot fastener (63) to change its angular position because the positioning studs (73) are out of the arm detents (617). When the suspension arm (70) is pivoted, the engaging ball (76) will slide out of the current seat detent (615) and slip into the adjacent seat detent (615) and make a clicking sound.
However, operating the conventional garment rod (6) requires that the suspension arm (70) always be pushed into the arm passage (741) before the suspension arm (70) can be adjusted. Since the suspension arm (70) must be pushed against the restitution springs (75) before the angular position of the suspension arm (70) can be changed, the conventional garment rod (6) is inconvenient to use.
Since the positioning studs (73) bear virtually all of the weight hanging on the suspension arm (70), the positioning studs (73) limit the weight of objects that can be hung on the conventional garment rod (6). When the conventional garment rod (6) is made of light material such as plastic, the positioning studs (73) are too weak to bear a heavy weight and may be broken.
The engaging ball (76) in the conventional garment rod (6) engage the seat detents (615) and provides an auxiliary support to increase the weight bearing capability of the suspension arm (70). However, the engaging ball (76) increases the overall complexity of the structure of the garment rod (6) and makes assembly of the garment rod (6) difficult.
With further reference to FIG. 8, another embodiment of a conventional garment rod (8) in accordance with the prior art modifies the insert (72) and the pivot seat (74). The modification is implemented with a stationary pivot body (81), two restitution springs (82), a sliding hole (83) and a spring hole (84). The sliding hole (83) and the spring hole (84) are defined in the inside end (722) of the insert (72). The stationary pivot body (81) is pivotally mounted in the bracket body (61), slidably held in the sliding hole (83) and has a blind hole (811). A restitution spring (82) is mounted and held in the blind hole (811). The engaging ball (76) is partially held in the blind hole (811), compresses the restitution spring (82) in the blind hole (811) and engages one of the seat detents (615). The restitution spring (82) is mounted in the spring hole (84) and has an end abutting the pivot body (81).
The garment rod (8) also needs to be pushed into the bracket body (61) to disengage the positioning studs (73) from the arm detents (617) to adjust the garment rod (8). The operation is inconvenient. Also, the garment rod (8) uses only two restitution springs (82) to provide the restitution force to position the suspension arm (70), which limits the weight the suspension arm (70) can support.
The aforesaid two garment rods (6, 8) can only be adjusted horizontally, but cannot be further adjusted upward to approach a vertical position. Therefore, use of the two conventional rods (6, 8) is restricted.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides an improved garment rod to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.